Building our Capital - Side Letter - TfL

Building our Capital: five years of delivery by London Underground

Contents Page

2

Foreword

5

Summary

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Benefits for London and Londoners 1. Satisfied passengers 2. Improving reliability 3. Boosting capacity 4. Faster and easier 5. A better experience for all 6. Step-free routes 7. Keeping crime low and improving safety 8. Reducing our environmental impact 9. Making our money count 10. Supporting London’s economy

9 10 12 14 16 17 18 20 22 23 24

Projects and programmes 1. Modernising our lines 2. Transforming our stations 3. Maintaining a reliable network 4. Customer service 5. Ensuring a safe and secure network 6. Safeguarding the environment 7. Providing access for everyone 8. Developing innovative ways of working and saving money

26 27 29 31 32 33 35 38 40

Conclusion

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Foreword The last few years have seen the end of the complexities of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) contracts on London Underground. These arrangements – designed primarily to modernise the network – ultimately failed to deliver, despite some good work in improving day-to-day maintenance. Taking back these contracts into a vertically integrated project delivery and operational railway organisation allowed the Victoria, Jubilee and most recently the Northern line to be modernised. In turn this also enabled a successful delivery of public transport for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. As well as these large projects to renew the lines, and the major rebuilding of some of our most congested stations, we have focused on improving the day-to-day operation of London Underground services. It is only if we provide a consistently reliable and safe service that we can keep pace with and support London’s growth and prosperity.

All this has been challenging. Renewing ageing assets and replacing obsolete systems with the latest technology is essential to securing the future, not just of the Tube, but of London too. A huge amount has been achieved, with very substantial reliability and capacity benefits, but much work still remains to be done. This report is divided into two main sections. The first sets out some key indicators that demonstrate how London Underground has been transformed since 2008/09, following the end of the PPP arrangements. The second half provides more detail on how we did it – the capital projects and operational programmes. Together this adds up to the greatest improvement seen on the Underground since our forbears started building it over 150 years ago. I trust you will find it informative. Mike Brown, Managing Director London Underground

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5

Summary Since 2008/09 a huge amount has been achieved on London Underground:

• Accessible for all: journeys on step-free routes doubled to 77 million a year

• Satisfied customers: approval ratings reach 83 (out of 100), the highest ever

• Less crime: down by more than one third

• Reliable services: delays down 43 per cent

• Protecting the environment: carbon dioxide emissions for each journey reduced by one-fifth

• Increased capacity: now carrying 1.27 billion passengers a year

• Value for money: the only large Western metro to cover operating costs

• Faster journeys: the average trip is two minutes quicker

•B oosting the economy: helping support 568,000 new homes and 3,500 apprenticeships

• Better stations: cleaner, brighter and more spacious

These are some of the projects and programmes behind those successes: Jubilee line modernisation

Line modernisations

Victoria line new trains introduced

Station modernisations

King’s Cross St. Pancras station

Reliability and customer service

Green Park station Launch of Tube reliability programme

First electronic service update board

First mayoral reliability commitment met

Accessibility Wider ticket gates roll-out begins

Seven more step-free stations

Three more step-free stations

Three more step-free stations

Metropolitan line new trains introduced

Victoria line modernisation

Circle line new trains introduced

Hammersmith & City line new trains introduced

Blackfriars station

Northern line modernisation

Tottenham Court Road station – new ticket hall

Paddington station

Farringdon station Start of WiFi rollout

New website

Blue light incident response

Contactless payments begin

Olympic and Paralympic Games Accessibility implementation plan Two more step-free stations

Four more step-free stations

‘Spiderweb’ anticrime project Sloane Square eco-friendly station

Environment

Groundwater chillers at Green Park and Oxford Circus

Biodiversity action plan

Ways of working

Metronet transfer to London Underground

2008 6

Efficiencies programme starts

2009

Cable theft prevention initiative

First step-down boarding ramps

150 new homes for nature

Bank innovative procurement

2011

2012 6

Samaritans partnership

Leicester Square eco-friendly station

Innovation portal

Tube Lines buyout: PPP ends

2010

‘Guardian’ initiative against sexual assault

Station staff more visible and available

One more step-free station

First manual boarding ramps

Safety and security

District line new trains (under way)

2013

Supplier innovation conference

2014

2015

2016 7

Benefits for London and Londoners

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8

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1. Satisfied passengers Customers tell us they are more satisfied with their journeys than ever before. The big step forward in customer satisfaction, observed when London staged the 2012 Games, has been maintained. A score of 83 (out of a maximum of 100) was recorded in 2013/14, up four points since 2008/09. Every quarter passengers are asked to rate London Underground and its services in faceto-face surveys as they exit stations, marking their experience on a scale of zero to 10. Our approval ratings are growing even as passenger numbers soar, hitting a new high of 1.27 billion in 2013/14, and in spite of the necessary work we need to do to modernise the system. We want to keep our customers satisfied and driving forward our modernisation programme is the way to do it. We have four key priorities: Safety and reliability. We are one of the safest metros in the world, with crime down by more than one-third (page 20). We are also much more reliable, with delays down by onethird (page 12), while Tube journeys are now two minutes faster on average (page 16).

Making the most of our existing infrastructure. We have boosted capacity (page 14) and now every penny of our grant goes toward investing in and renewing our network, rather than subsidising day-to-day operations (page 23). As we carry more people, new technology is helping us protect the environment by cutting carbon emissions from every journey by one-fifth (page 22). Growing the network. Work has started to extend the Northern line to new areas and stimulate economic growth, homes and jobs. And we have plans to operate more of London’s suburban rail network, as well as opening Crossrail. Passenger journeys are at their highest (page 15) and we are ensuring that every new station and line has the latest technology, with features such as step-free access (page 18). Customer service that meets the expectations of our passengers. We are offering better information and our staff will be more visible and available, journeys easier (page 17).

Customer satisfaction (score out of 100) 84 82 80 78

10

83

83

2012/13

2013/14

80 79

79

79

2008/09

2009/10

2010/11

2011/12

10

11


2. Improving reliability

Total lost customer hours per year (millions)

Our service is more reliable, with a 43 per cent reduction in the amount of time customers lost to delays in five years.

2008/09

We measure journey delays in ‘lost’ customer hours, totalling the additional travel time caused by hold-ups lasting more than two minutes. Delays at a busy location or during peak hours result in more lost customer hours because more customers are affected.

When problems occur, we respond faster. The emergency vehicles we use to attend incidents now use ‘blue lights’ and sirens, allowing us to cut through traffic to get to incident locations and make repairs more quickly. This is halving response times to major Tube incidents.

In the five years since 2008/09, the total was cut from more than 36 million lost customer hours to less than 21 million if the impact of industrial action is excluded – a remarkable achievement given the rising number of people on the network.

Our performance marked against the number of train delays of more than 15 minutes is equally good, with a 43 per cent reduction over the five years to March 2014. This was achieved despite the pressure of carrying out major modernisation schemes on many of our lines at the same time.

This downward trend in delays is the result of London Underground making reliability, alongside safety, its top priority. A reduction in equipment failures has been a major factor and new technology is helping. For example a remote track monitoring system on the Victoria line is allowing us to spot potential faults early and fix them before they delay customers.

36.6

2009/10

29.0

2010/11

32.1

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

28.1 21.7 20.7

Excludes delays caused by industrial action

We have cut delays caused by mistakes by our staff, with a 25 per cent reduction of lost customer hours in the five years to 2013/14. We have also made significant inroads in tackling delays caused by passenger incidents (a fall of 18 per cent in lost customer hours).

The Mayor of London asked us to reduce lost customer hours by 30 per cent between 2011 and the end of 2015, and we are absolutely on course to meet this target. This achievement will follow an earlier reduction of 40 per cent made between 2007 and 2011.

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12

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3. Boosting capacity

London Underground passenger journeys (millions) 1,300m

Our improvements have created space for more customers. Tube passenger journeys are up by one-sixth in five years, as London’s population hits a record high.

1,265

We are racing to keep pace with the Capital’s growth. The number of Londoners has grown by 600,000 since 2008 and is set to increase by a further 1.5 million to top 10 million by 2031. Our challenge is to match the demand for transport that this will create.

to achieve the objective of a public transport Games with 86 per cent of spectators attending events at the Olympic Stadium rating their experience of getting home after an event as ‘extremely good’. Most people used London Underground services.

The modernisation of three lines in the past decade has given a big boost to the network’s capacity – up by one-third on the Jubilee line, 21 per cent on the Victoria line, and by 20 per cent on the Northern line. We have increased the frequency of our services, especially in the rush hour, allowing us to get thousands more people to work across the Capital.

The lines we have most recently modernised will continue to be improved. From September 2015 we’ll introduce weekend services through the night on core parts of five lines. Frequencies on the Victoria line will increase to a train every 100 seconds by 2016, among the most frequent in the world. We’ll buy extra trains for the Jubilee line to do the same by 2020. Additional Northern line trains by 2022 will mean the line will eventually be capable of carrying half as many passengers again as it did in 2008/09.

We are carrying more passengers than ever, supporting London’s economy and its population as it grows. We scaled new heights with 1.27 billion trips during 2013/14, up by 16 per cent in just five years. Indeed, ridership has been growing faster than we have been able to add capacity, making the further improvements we are planning even more vital. Last November, we set a new record of 4.7 million journeys in one day – even outstripping the busiest period in 2012, when the Tube played a major part in the success of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. London Underground worked with other stakeholders

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1,229

1,200m 1,178 1,100m 1,089

1,107 1,065

1,000m 2008/09

2009/10

2010/11

2011/12

2012/13

2013/14

The next four lines (Metropolitan, Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines) will get new signalling in a complex project replacing equipment dating back to the 1920s in some places. This will allow us to increase services on that part of our network, which is essential if we are to keep pace with London’s growth. From the 2020s, we will also begin to introduce spacious new air cooled trains on the Piccadilly, Bakerloo, Central and Waterloo & City lines.

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4. Faster and easier

5. A better experience for all

Modernising London Underground stations and lines has made Tube journeys faster and easier, cutting average times by two minutes in just five years.

Updating some of our busiest stations has produced a better experience for Londoners and visitors alike, keeping the city moving and supporting tourism.

Since 2008, we have completed the modernisation of the Jubilee, Victoria and Northern lines, which means customers spend less time waiting on platforms and trains run faster between stations. We have also been busy tackling the causes of delays. On the Victoria line, we now run 34 trains an hour, capable of carrying 10,000 extra passengers an hour in the busiest times of the day. The average journey time is now 10 minutes, compared with 11 before the modernisation project began. That’s equivalent to each passenger saving two working days travel time a year. On the Jubilee and Northern lines, the improvements are even more dramatic, with almost four minutes shaved off an average journey.

cent. At King’s Cross St. Pancras, one-third of passengers now reach their trains through the new North ticket hall, significantly improving how people flow through the station. Quicker journeys are more convenient for passengers and save them time. They also open up more of the city for people, enabling them to travel further in the same amount of time, broadening access to work, leisure and social opportunities.

Across the Tube network as a whole, the average journey is now almost two minutes faster than it was in 2008/09, thanks to faster scheduled journey times and a reduction in delays.

The Capital’s population is growing, as are the number of domestic and overseas visitors using public transport. The number from within the United Kingdom (UK), aside from commuters, has risen twice as fast as the growth in London’s population since 2009. By allowing tourists to get around the city easily and quickly, we are helping to ensure London remains one of the world’s top global destinations for both business and leisure. Our passengers, whether Londoners or firsttime visitors, expect easy to understand, accessible information that makes the station experience pleasant, as well as fast, reliable and frequent services. Since 2009, electronic service update boards, positioned close to entrance gates, provide an overview of how our trains are running. Since 2012, we’ve been rolling out WiFi to all below-ground stations – meaning online services that could once only be accessed from a fixed computer can

now be used on the move on mobile devices and tablets as people travel around London. Meanwhile payment by contactless bank card, which was launched in 2014, has made paying for travel easier than ever. First impressions matter. Our work to modernise the Tube station serving Heathrow Terminals 1, 2 and 3 has improved connections between London and destinations around the world. It is one of London’s ‘gateway’ Underground stations, with large numbers of passengers, many unfamiliar with our public transport system, so we are installing new Visitor Information Centres to help them. At King’s Cross St. Pancras, another gateway station, we have improved access to the Tube for passengers arriving from the North of England, the Midlands, Scotland and on Eurostar. We have cash machines across our network, and 80 of them now dispense euros as well as sterling.

Delays to journeys because of congestion at stations, for example, have been cut by 19 per Average journey time (minutes) 32 31

31.5

31.1

31.5

30.9

30

30.0

29.7

2012/13

2013/14

29 28 27 26

16

2008/09

2009/10

2010/11

2011/12

16

17


6. Step-free routes

Tube journeys on step-free routes (millions)

The number of journeys on step-free routes has more than doubled in five years, with easier access to the platform, new trains and better information making travel easier for disabled customers and those with particular mobility requirements.

80m 70m

The number of stations where lifts or ramps provide access to platforms has increased drastically in the past five years, to a total of 68. This is benefiting older people with reduced mobility, families with prams and pregnant women, as well as disabled people. Together, they account for one in every eight journeys made on the Tube. All new stations and those undergoing major upgrade work have step-free access included in the plans. King’s Cross, Blackfriars and Heathrow Terminals 1, 2 and 3 have become step-free in the past five years, with Victoria, Tottenham Court Road and Finsbury Park to join them in the next five. By focusing on large interchange stations, we are opening up

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the Underground and benefiting the greatest possible number of people.

2012/13

2013/14

50m

30m

Step-free access between the platform and the train is just as important and 48 stations now allow this, up from 11 in 2008/09. We have achieved this by introducing low-floor trains, installing raised sections of platform, and introducing boarding ramps that can be quickly deployed by station staff.

77

67

60m 48

40m

There has been a significant improvement in step-free access to the Tube. By 2013/14, the number of Tube journeys made on routes where it is possible to get from the street to platforms without using the stairs or escalators reached 77 million, compared to 35 million in 2008/09. That figure is set to treble to 227 million in the next decade.

75

35

35

2008/09

2009/10

20m 10m 0m

2010/11

2011/12

Disabled people, parents with young families and passengers with heavy luggage benefit from wider entrance gates, with 376 now installed at 185 stations. For visually impaired people tactile paving has been laid along the platform edge at almost all of our stations. More help points (many with induction loops) have been installed in ticket halls and passageways and on platforms, benefiting everyone. Our new trains, operating on five lines, include dedicated wheelchair spaces and room for luggage or guide dogs, while our passenger information is specially designed for people with visual or hearing impairments.

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7. Keeping crime low and improving safety Working with the British Transport Police (BTP), our initiatives have helped cut crime on the Tube by more than one-third since 2009, making it one of the safest big city transport systems in Europe and North America. Crime is down on London Underground and the Docklands Light Railway (DLR). The total number reported fell from 15,109 in 2008/09 to 10,958 in 2013/14. This drop of 27 per cent came as passenger journeys rose by a sixth, so the number of crimes for every million Tube journeys is down even more dramatically, from 13 five years ago, to just eight in the past year. The Tube is a low-crime metro compared with systems in Western Europe, Australia and North America. A particular area of improvement in recent years has been the reduction in cases of theft. Cable theft had become a big problem for Britain’s railways and their passengers in the past decade, costing millions and causing big delays. But, working with the police, we are addressing the problem. No cases were

reported in 2013/14, compared with more than 40 in both 2011/12 and the following year. We have trained our staff and communicated better with passengers to tackle accidents and suicides on our railway. We are getting results: there were 21 fatalities for every billion journeys in 2013/14 (down 20 per cent on five years earlier). Those figures include 18 suicides and three accidents involving people on the track. We are also determined to keep the Tube a safe workplace. The number of injuries to staff that led to working time being lost also dropped significantly (by 29 per cent since 2008/09). Our project transforming Green Park station took more than 380,000 working hours and there were no incidents that caused a member of staff to miss work because of illness or injury.

Reported crimes per million passenger journeys

Lost time injuries per million staff hours worked

2008/09

13.1

2009/10

12.8

2010/11

11.5

2009/10

11.4

10.3

2010/11

2011/12

9.6

2011/12

2012/13

9.6

2012/13

2013/14

20

2008/09

8.0

2013/14

20

9.6 9.4 7.1 8.2

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8. Reducing our environmental impact

9. Making our money count

London Underground is greener than ever: carbon dioxide emissions for each journey are down by almost one-fifth.

Thanks to increased efficiencies and rising passenger numbers, all the Government funding London Underground receives is invested into improvements for the future.

The carbon dioxide emitted across our network has come down, to 60 grams for every passenger kilometre travelled – 18 per cent less than five years ago. Most of our carbon dioxide emissions come from our use of electricity. Thanks to new, more efficient technology, overall electricity consumption is only slightly more than it was in 2008/09 – even though we are carrying 16 per cent more passengers. Reducing carbon emissions not only helps the environment, it also saves money. On the Victoria line, for example, our energy bill is going to be £3m lower every year thanks to improved train control, low-energy lighting and regenerative braking technology, which returns surplus energy to the rails so it can be used by other trains. Heat is an issue for Tube passengers. Another benefit of regenerative braking is that it reduces the release of heat into the tunnels. We are also using extra ventilation, cooling units and mechanical chillers to help make travelling underground more comfortable.

Our commitment to the environment extends well beyond reducing carbon emissions. Much more waste is now reused or recycled – meaning less goes to landfill. Recycling of commercial waste collected from stations and trains is up 70 per cent in the last five years, (with over two-thirds of this refuse now being recycled). For construction waste the picture is even better – we are reusing or recycling 90 per cent of the waste generated at our sites, compared to 71 per cent in 2008/9. Meanwhile we are caring for our significant trackside land to ensure it continues to provide an environment for flora and fauna and function as green corridors for wildlife. And our human neighbours are just as important to us. The number of complaints associated with noise from our network has fallen by almost a quarter in five years, the result of better planning of noisy works and better communication with London boroughs and residents.

2008/09

Investment to boost the Tube’s capacity and carry more people means our total income from fares has increased. Thanks to a greater commercial focus, our income from advertising and retail units on stations has also gone up over the past five years. We now raise more than three times the average of other European and North American metros in commercial revenue.

73

2009/10

Every penny of our income is invested in operating and improving the network. We don’t keep any profit back; we spend it on current and future renewal and modernisation schemes (although these still require extra support from Government). Recent Government funding has been awarded on a multi-year basis. This has been instrumental in helping us plan effectively, getting better value from suppliers and locking in more efficient maintenance for decades to come. For example, a long-term funding deal enabled us to buy a single fleet of new trains for four lines, replacing three separate fleets. We benefited from economies of scale during procurement, and also future maintenance for a single fleet, compared with three, will be easier and cheaper.

0.26 0.24

64

2012/13

We also always look for value for money from our capital projects. An innovative procurement process, used in the development of Bank station, led to a 50 per cent improvement in the value of the successful bid, a 19 per cent gain in journey times and costs being reduced by 23 per cent.

0.28

71

2011/12

for every kilometre a train carriage travels, to less than £1.50.

Operating cost per passenger kilometre (£)

75

2010/11

22

Since 2008/09, we have reduced the cost of transporting one passenger for one kilometre by 18 per cent, from 25p to just over 20p.

On the other side of the balance sheet, we have driven down the unit costs of doing particular types of work. For example, maintenance costs are down from about £1.80

Carbon dioxide emissions per passenger kilometre (grams)

2013/14

We are unusual. Of the major European and North American metro systems, only London Underground and DLR require no funding from the taxpayer to cover their day-to-day operating costs. Our financial performance has got better year by year, and since 2011/12, the Tube’s revenue has exceeded the day-to-day cost of running the network. London Underground and DLR are the only major European or North American metros to achieve this.

0.22

62

0.20 0.18

60

22

2008/09

2009/10

2010/11

2011/12

2012/13

2013/14

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10. Supporting London’s economy London’s economy could not function without the Tube. It allows millions of people to get to work every single day. The Tube makes London’s existence viable. The Underground and other railways account for 79 per cent of all journeys to work in central London during the morning peak - that number of people couldn’t be carried by any other transport mode. Tube modernisations and extensions have given Londoners better access to the economic opportunities the Capital offers. Improvements to transport capacity encourage workers to travel to more economically productive jobs, which in turn boosts London’s economy. As London’s net output increases the whole of the UK benefits, given London’s significant contribution to national Gross Domestic Product. Since 2008/09 London has added 775,000 jobs. Transport has been vastly significant in regenerating London. We have been working with the Mayor and local communities to improve public transport in step with the creation of new jobs and homes across the Capital. The modernisation of the Tube is supporting the development of many of the 33 Opportunity Areas designated in the London Plan: major brownfield locations selected for new business and housing by 2031. They

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include Greenwich, Wembley, the Isle of Dogs and the Lea Valley. All of the net growth in office floorspace in London has occurred within 500 metres of Underground or rail stations. In total, the Opportunity Areas are expected to lead to the creation of 319,000 new jobs and 568,000 new homes. The extension of the Northern line beyond Kennington to Battersea will create two new stations to link the area with the rest of the city This will benefit people who already live in the area, while also enabling the construction of 18,000 new homes and supporting 24,000 new jobs. Our improvement programme is creating jobs directly too. As many as 43,000 people find work with London Underground, our contractors and companies in their supply chains. Since 2009, as part of TfL, we’ve helped create around 5,000 apprenticeships. Looking ahead, building the Northern line extension will alone create 1,000 jobs and 50 apprenticeships. However, it is not just London that benefits from this investment: 83 per cent of our spending goes to suppliers based outside the Capital, supporting jobs and families in the UK’s nations and regions.

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Projects and programmes

In the first section of this report we have seen how Tube passengers, and the Capital overall, are benefiting from the improvements we have made to London Underground. These have been achieved through plans and projects, some formulated over a decade ago. In this section we outline what we’re doing to ensure the Underground – a triumph of 19th century British design and engineering – is meeting the different needs of 21st century passengers, and anticipating their future requirements.

1. Modernising our lines We have renewed ageing assets and increased capacity significantly, transforming three lines in the current investment programme. On the Jubilee line, the first to be completed in 2011, a seventh car provided an early boost to capacity, while new signalling lets us run trains closer together and more often. Capacity is up by a third and we can carry an extra 12,500 passengers an hour into central London at the busiest times of day. The Victoria line has a new train control system as well as new accessible trains, with wider doors and more space for wheelchair users. New audio and visual information systems help people who are hearing or visually impaired. Doors and passenger alarms have been modified and the latest track

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monitoring systems installed to make the line more reliable. We increased capacity by 21 per cent, with five more services in each direction every hour during the rush hour, providing space for 10,000 extra passengers. The modernisation of the line was completed in 2013, on time and £57m under budget. Since then, we have added another extra train every hour at peak times, taking the maximum frequency to 34 trains per hour. The Northern line also now has a new train control system. The new, more frequent service started in December 2014 with capacity for 11,000 more passengers an hour at the busiest time of day, (up a fifth). When London Underground took over responsibility for the project, following the end of the Tube’s Public Private Partnership, we reduced the planned

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2. Transforming our stations As line modernisations enable our trains to carry more and more people, we also need to extend and rebuild our biggest stations to ensure passengers can easily get into and out of the Tube network. At King’s Cross St. Pancras, work to quadruple the size of the Underground station finished in 2010. The project included two new ticket halls, the expansion of the existing ticket hall, 10 new escalators, nine new lifts providing step-free access and new passageways. The new North ticket hall greatly improved access to the Victoria, Piccadilly and Northern lines. The project aimed to ensure that the Underground station could cope with increased demand from the new St. Pancras International terminal and the revamped King’s Cross mainline station, as well as it being an effective interchange between six Tube lines.

number of line closures and cut disruption to passenger journeys by 60 per cent. Work finished six months early and was £80m under budget. We are currently modernising the Metropolitan, Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines. Together they make up 40 per cent of our network but rely on outdated systems and equipment. The work on these lines is essential to ensure we continue to keep up with growing demand on key routes into and around the city. We’ve introduced most of the new fleet of 191 trains. They are longer than the old trains and are able to carry 150 extra people on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines. So overall capacity is now up by 10 per cent – that’s space for up to 10,000 more passengers an hour. The new trains have walkthrough carriages and, for the first time on the Underground, a full air cooling system. 28

The planned new control system will bring the overall increase in capacity to 33 per cent. Power systems, depots and parts of the track layout have already been improved in preparation for the introduction of new signals. There is more to come. We are now planning the next wave of projects. This includes the extension of the Northern line to Battersea and extra trains to increase frequencies on the main part of the line and on the Jubilee line. Work to modernise the Piccadilly, Central, Bakerloo and Waterloo & City lines will begin in the early 2020s. The centrepiece of this programme will be the new Tube train for London: modern rolling stock providing greater comfort and space, and for the first time air cooled trains in the Tube’s narrow, deep tunnels.

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We made improvements at Green Park station, a key destination and interchange station in the West End. New lifts were installed to provide step-free access to platforms. Working with Network Rail’s Thameslink Programme, we redeveloped Blackfriars and Farringdon stations. With works completed by 2012, both now have new ticket halls, larger circulation areas and step-free access to all platforms. At Farringdon, one of the original seven Metropolitan Railway stations from 1863, important heritage features have been restored. Paddington (Hammersmith & City line) is the most recent station to have been modernised. New facilities, opened in stages to December 2013, include a spacious new concourse and ticket hall, a new entrance and stairways, improved CCTV and longer platforms. We are currently working on six more major station projects for the future, to deliver much improved facilities, accommodate rising numbers of journeys and ensure that London Underground services fully link with new services, such as Crossrail.

Works are now more than 50 per cent complete at Vauxhall, used by more than 25 million passengers a year. By the end of 2015, as part of major investment supporting the regeneration of the Nine Elms and Battersea neighbourhoods, there will be stepfree access, a new control room and increased capacity through an expanded ticket hall. Part of the new ticket hall has opened at Tottenham Court Road and by 2016 the whole station will be transformed, enabling it to serve more than 200,000 passengers every day, free of the crowds and delays that have been the norm. The new ticket hall will be six times the size of the previous one. Work at Bond Street is well under way to relieve congestion, improve accessibility and prepare for the arrival of Crossrail. This includes new entrances and escalators and step-free access, plus a new interchange passageway, all by 2017. At Victoria, the new ticket hall will open in 2016, with the full project – including new passageways, escalators, lifts and an extension to the current ticket hall – complete by 2018, doubling the size of the station. At Finsbury Park we’ve opened two new spiral staircases to provide easier interchange between Tube and National Rail services. The station will be part of the Thameslink network, and by 2019 we will build a new ticket hall and provide step-free access. There’s more to come. We have awarded the contract for a major rebuilding and extension project at Bank and Monument stations. A new southbound Northern line tunnel will be built by 2021 to allow for wider platforms and a new concourse, with a new entrance on Cannon Street providing step-free access. We are also working on proposals for major schemes at Holborn and Camden Town.

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3. M aintaining a reliable network We have focused on every aspect of how the Tube is operated and maintained to put reliability at the heart of everything we do and minimise delays to passenger journeys. We met the Mayor’s commitment to reduce hold-ups by 40 per cent in the four years to 2010/11 and are on track to achieve his further commitment of a 30 per cent cut by the end of 2015. In 2011, we launched a dedicated reliability programme which identified the priorities on each Underground line and included initiatives to predict and prevent service failures, respond more quickly and effectively to any problems and introduce new and better equipment. Greater automation has, for example, allowed us to assist recovery when delays occur. A new high-tech system, developed in-house, lets us remotely monitor track circuits – part of the signalling system – on the Victoria line, allowing faults to be detected and tackled more quickly. Similar technology is now being rolled out on other lines as old equipment is replaced.

We are reducing customer-related delays by better informing passengers of the impact of holding doors open, and installing covers to stop on-board alarms being activated accidentally or maliciously. Trains now carry spillage kits so they can be kept in service, rather than having to be taken to the depot to be cleaned. We have introduced rigorous, weekly reviews where experts, operators and senior managers focus on the top causes of delays. The effort extends to train drivers and station staff, emphasising the importance of ‘right-time’ departures and swift action to resolve delays when they occur. London Underground’s Emergency Response Unit can now cut through traffic more quickly to reach and deal with major incidents, using blue lights, sirens and drivers provided by the British Transport Police. Looking ahead, achieving further reductions in delays will continue to be a priority. New equipment, provided through the line modernisations, plus continued management focus will help get us there.

On the rails themselves, replacing old jointed rail with continuous rail has reduced possible points of failure, while ultrasonic and magnetic measurement systems are allowing smaller defects within the rails to be detected and addressed. New devices designed by our staff can retrieve small, high-value items like mobile phones and wallets which have fallen on to the tracks, without switching off the power. We’ve also provided extra bins on platforms to stop litter getting on to the tracks and potentially causing delays.

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Looking ahead, the modernisation of the network has made possible the all-night weekend service that is planned to start this September on core sections of five lines. Since 2003 there has been a 50 per cent increase in demand for our services late on Saturday evenings. We are responding, and the ‘Night Tube’ will benefit people out and about late into the evening, as well as shift workers who use the Underground to get to work. According to a 2014 report by Volterra Partners, Night Tube is expected to give a £360m boost to the increasingly important night-time economy over the next 30 years. We are improving the retail units on our stations. Over the next decade, this retail revolution, alongside other activities to boost commercial revenue, is expected to generate income of £3.4bn across TfL as a whole, which we can reinvest in London’s transport system.

4. Customer service We worked with London 2012 partners to put London Underground at the centre of the successful Olympic and Paralympic Games, carrying 101 million journeys, up a quarter on the year before. Construction of new infrastructure (such as the redevelopment of Stratford station) was essential. We developed customer-focused measures – including a third late evening ‘peak’ – to get spectators to and from their events promptly, while keeping London moving. Information campaigns persuaded passengers to change the route or timing of their journeys, to avoid the risk of overcrowding or delays. Effective communication was critical, and following the Games we redesigned our website to make it more integrated and effective. More than three-quarters of Londoners use it, so we got their views 32

during the design process before it went live in March 2014. With station WiFi it is now possible to check for travel information, or read an email in more than 150 Underground stations, free for the customers of five mobile operators. Since 2009, electronic service update boards have become a familiar sight near ticket barriers, providing an overview of how the Tube is running and helping passengers avoid delays. We are committed to moving staff out of underused ticket offices, onto gate lines and platforms to help our customers buy the right ticket, plan journeys, and keep them safe. Paying for travel has never been easier, with contactless payment cards accepted since 2014, in addition to our own Oyster cards. The take-up has been extremely fast, with over a million journeys made every week. This number continues to increase. 32

Argos opened its first shop at Cannon Street in November 2014 and ‘Click and Collect’ services are spreading fast, especially at suburban stations. Pop-up shops are the latest new marketplace, with retail properties made available for short-term rental by brands, artists and entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, our licensed busking scheme is a real hit. Passengers are enjoying live music from talented, professional musicians. Big names like Julian Lloyd-Webber, Badly Drawn Boy and Seasick Steve have joined them to play on the Underground’s unique stage. Poems on the Underground showcases verse, new and old. One of our anthologies marked the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, with poems from Wilfred Owen, Thomas Hardy, Laurie Lee and others. And our long-running Art on the Underground programme continues working with both established and upcoming artists to enrich passengers’ travel experience and continue putting excellent art and design at the core of our identity.

The positive results we have seen in customer surveys reflect the hard work by our staff to deliver the best service possible, day in, day out, and our determination to keep improving. We are now rolling out changes to how we staff our stations, to make our staff more visible and available, and enable them to better help customers. Our aim is always to operate a ‘world class Tube, for a world class city’.

5. E nsuring a safe and secure network We have achieved one of the lowest rates of fatalities caused by accidents among the world’s major metro systems. But we are never complacent. Some of our signalling dates back to the 1920s, and our maintenance programme is designed to keep this ageing equipment safe, as well as keeping more modern kit in top condition. We are addressing potential safety issues on escalators, stairways and at track side at stations; together, these account for four in every five accidents on the Tube network. The safety of our young passengers is particularly important to us. London Underground contributes to TfL’s work to prepare primary school children for independent travel. Every Year Six pupil in Greater London is offered a free session, either at a Junior Citizenship Scheme or as an in-school presentation. We have formed a new partnership with the Samaritans to help staff identify people who might attempt to take their own lives on stations. This training is giving staff the skills to identify vulnerable people and intervene if necessary. The wellbeing of our workforce matters too, and safety is on the agenda every week at our staff meetings. Incident investigations focus on understanding causes to prevent similar accidents in the future. 33


Working with our partners in British Transport Police and the Metropolitan Police Service, we have developed three key initiatives to cut crime. Two relate to theft. Operation Magnum is a long-standing initiative to tackle this issue. We have also launched Project Spiderweb, which uses high-visibility patrols, surveillance, intelligence-led operations, and covert policing to deter criminals.

Project Guardian, launched in 2013, is tackling sexual assault and unwanted sexual behaviour on London Underground as well as rail and bus services in London. Work here includes highprofile policing on quiet stations late at night, cooperation with organisations like End Violence Against Women and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, and publicity for successful prosecutions. In future, we will continue to work closely with police partners to keep the Tube safe.

6. S afeguarding the environment We have used the latest technology to cut energy consumption and carbon emissions, and offset the impact of dramatically increased passenger numbers. Regenerative braking feeds the energy from braking back into the power supply so it can be used to power trains, rather than wasting it as heat. This technology, used on the Jubilee and Central lines for some time, has now been introduced on the Victoria and Northern lines, and on part of the Metropolitan, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines. On our modernised lines, computer technology has enabled us to introduce ‘coasting’, cutting 34

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wasted energy. Rather than accelerating and braking in turn to maintain the required speed, trains accelerate and then coast under their own momentum for a time, before braking as they enter stations. On some lines we have fitted extra-low loss conductor rails, made of aluminium rather than traditional steel, which reduce conduction losses. In addition, the voltage on some parts of the network has been increased to 750 volts, which reduces transmission losses and gives better performance. We are improving energy efficiency in our stations too. A range of innovative measures have been successfully trialled at Leicester Square and Sloane Square. Lighting in public areas is automatically switched off when 35


stations close, and the use of exterior lighting is linked to levels of natural daylight. The Tube’s environmental performance has also been helped by the shift in the UK’s power generation mix towards more lowcarbon sources of energy, particularly wind power. We are now looking at how we can secure our own low-carbon supplies of electricity, allowing us to progress further in reducing our carbon output. A revamp of London’s historic Greenwich Power Station will bring into use six brandnew energy efficient gas engines. They will generate cheaper, low carbon electricity for the Underground network, reducing our risk from rising energy prices. By 2025, Greenwich could meet 13 per cent of the Tube’s needs. We have assessed the impact of future climate change on our network, and have developed a range of activities to mitigate this. They include the use of sustainable drainage, which reduces the risk of flooding and also helps biodiversity, air quality and ambient air temperatures. We are also installing water recycling systems at depots and stations. Green building roofs capture rainfall and provide a habitat for wildlife, as do our extensive landholdings throughout London, particularly alongside the tracks.

We have substantially increased the amount of waste that is reused or recycled. We are ‘designing out’ waste from our projects. We have achieved excellent local reuse of waste from construction or maintenance projects, with an average of 90 per cent of waste materials reused or recycled. Work on some of the Metropolitan line embankments achieved 100 per cent reuse of waste materials. We have also worked to ensure that refuse left on our trains and stations is recycled. Noise, especially from construction activity, can be an issue for our neighbours. We have cut the number of complaints by almost a quarter in five years. Overnight and weekend work is monitored to enforce agreed noise limits and operating hours. We communicate plans for out-of-hours working, sending out tens of thousands of letters each year. We have also worked to reduce noise from our trains, tracks and stations, and will continue to trial improved technology and materials. We will be carefully monitoring the noise impacts of our night services from September 2015.

Our Biodiversity Action Plan set out our plans to responsibly manage the natural environment and enhance the value of our land as a habitat and resource to be enjoyed by residents and visitors. It includes habitat suitability maps that help us enhance biodiversity in locations where we know particular species can thrive. As part of our celebrations for the 150th anniversary of London Underground, we set up 150 new homes for nature.

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7. Providing access for everyone The Tube network’s age and the associated high cost of complex projects to provide step-free access, pose challenges. However, we have made significant progress towards enabling everyone to access our services including disabled people, older people, those with families or pushing buggies, or who are pregnant. In March 2012, we published our Accessibility Implementation Plan and we involved disabled people in its development through the use of ‘citizens’ juries’, which made recommendations to improve provision. Central to this has been increasing the number of stations that are step-free to the platform or to the train, through altering the level of carriages or the platform, or providing boarding ramps that can be deployed by staff. Out of the 270 Tube stations, 68 were stepfree between the street and the platform by the end of 2013/14, up more than a fifth in five years. There was an even larger increase in stations where the step and/or gap between the train and the platform has been removed – quadrupling to 48. This was achieved partly as a result of new low-floor trains on the Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City, Circle and District lines. On other lines, platform humps have been fitted at suitable stations and manual boarding ramps were first introduced just before the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We also developed a new design of ramp suitable for stations where the train is lower than the platform – a challenge unique to London Underground. The number of journeys made by step-free routes has doubled in five years to 77 million. Key to improving the number of journeys made by step-free routes has been focusing on the busiest interchange stations. King’s Cross St. Pancras became fully step-free in 2010 and Green Park, Blackfriars and 38

Farringdon followed in 2012, doubling the number of step-free stations in Zone 1. In the next 10 years, the number of fully accessible Zone 1 stations will almost double again and several other Zone 1 stations will have stepfree access to at least one line. New tactile paving for visually impaired people has been fitted on 98 per cent of platforms in the past five years, while more than two-thirds of stations have wide entrance gates, allowing wheelchair users and those with pushchairs and luggage to enter and exit stations without staff assistance. Trains are being modernised to comply with new accessibility regulations which come into force by 2020. The fleet of 191 new trains now in service on the Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City, Circle and District lines features low floors and wider doors, wheelchair spaces and priority seats, plus space for luggage and guide dogs. These ‘walk-through’ trains also include improved audio and visual information. The refurbishment of older trains, such as on the Northern line, includes new wheelchair spaces and contrasting coloured grab poles to help visually impaired people. TfL’s online journey planner was made more accessible before the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, so passengers could plan trips using stations that were step-free, avoid stairs or escalators, and find toilets. Large print underground maps are available, as are a range of ‘how to’ videos, showing accessibility features and encouraging disabled people to use the Underground. We continue to seek innovative solutions for specific locations. At Greenford in west London, we are installing an ‘incline’ lift alongside the escalators, with entry and exit doors on opposite sides to make travel easier for people in wheelchairs or with buggies. It will come into use later this year. 38

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8. Developing innovative ways of working and saving money We have cut our operating costs per passenger by almost one-fifth over five years, holding overall costs steady, despite many extra journeys being made on the Tube. This is also in spite of higher wage levels in London, increasing staff costs. Since the start of our efficiencies programme in 2009/10 we have banked £1.9bn of efficiencies, and have secured a further £4.7bn for future years. We have a plans for a further £1.5bn of efficiencies by 2020/21 taking the total saving to £8.1bn in 12 years across London Underground and TfL’s other rail services. We have negotiated better deals for the electricity that powers our trains. We have packed more maintenance and upgrade work into fewer line and station closures, working more efficiently and reducing inconvenience. New technology, such as remote track monitoring, has enabled cheaper and more timely repairs. We know that future innovations will come from the next generation of engineers, operators and professionals. That’s why we offer apprenticeship roles in operations and engineering and a vibrant graduate programme. We are also an active member of the Steps into Work Scheme, providing placements to young people with learning disabilities. We are constantly looking at new ways to streamline the way we and our contractors operate. Bank/Monument station is one of London’s busiest, serving five Underground lines and DLR; high demand in the rush hour often requires passengers to be held outside to prevent overcrowding. Its modernisation has to be cost-effective, yet minimise disruption for passengers and neighbouring businesses. 40

So we asked bidders to suggest how our plans could be improved. Innovations were discussed and developed together and we had the right to buy ideas from unsuccessful firms. Now contractors have an incentive to invest in innovation and develop solutions as part of the tendering process – saving money and achieving a better scheme. Working with Crossrail, we standardised the specification for more than 100 new escalators that were required, reducing costs by over half. A similar programme for new and replacement lifts has cut costs by a third.

Access to our tracks is limited to three or four hours a night when trains are not running. Our experts have to be ready to mobilise quickly at sites where work is needed, replace and renew track, and then clear up before the first morning services. Efficient use of our time is therefore critical and we are always looking for ways to make the most effective use of those precious engineering hours and avoid needless disruption. Traditionally, we have closed lines

or stations for longer periods, including at weekends. But we have refined the way we operate, using new tools and machinery, so we can carry out work to replace sleepers, ballast and rails whenever possible during the night. We are the only railway in the world able to replace ballasted track during the few overnight hours available and re-open for normal traffic the next day.

Our online Innovation Portal, launched in 2013, enables staff, suppliers, industry and those in education to spread the pioneering solutions that are being developed to address London Underground’s biggest challenges. In 2014 we hosted a conference to encourage our suppliers to develop and share new ideas that would enable us, together, to improve the Tube. A new system, known as ‘stake’, has let us engage with businesses throughout our supply chain, not only our largest contractors. This has led to improved communication, workforce engagement and quality. We estimate that the approach can save up to 14 per cent on project costs. This programme has also created craft academies to improve skills and develop leadership among these contractors. Modernising, expanding and adding step-free access to our stations is a huge challenge, so we have used new 3D modelling techniques to give us the best view of the work required in the most complex design projects. Using this technology at Bank and Victoria stations, we improved decision-making and minimised construction waste. All the data about these projects is held electronically and can be easily shared internally and with our suppliers.

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Conclusion In 2008/09, the failure of the Public Private Partnership put our investment programme in doubt. But we’ve emerged even stronger. Since that time, we’ve delivered a host of new and renovated stations and improved the capacity of some of our busiest lines. And all these improvements were achieved while we managed to reduce delays to customers by more than 40 per cent. Those changes are just what’s visible to the Londoners who use our network day in and day out. What they can’t see are the improvements we’ve made to our programme management capability, which has helped to reduce both the costs and the time involved with these large projects. Our major projects have an impact beyond the more than four million people that use the Underground every day. Every pound

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invested in our network creates jobs across the United Kingdom − for small and medium businesses that provide us with services to larger companies that build our trains and stations. London is a world-class city, attracting visitors and investment from all over the globe. Our population is expected to rise by more than a million people over the next fifteen years and we need to have a transport system that can cope with the increased demand. The Capital’s continued growth relies upon a strong Underground network. Our accomplishments over the past few years demonstrate that we’ve got the capability to meet this challenge, but we’ll need continued investment to make our future plans a reality for commuters, tourists, and everyone who uses our services.

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©London Underground Palestra 197 Blackfriars Road London SE1 8NJ March 2015 tfl.gov.uk/tube

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